Madras HC reserves orders on Aadhav Arjuna’s plea to quash FIR for his inflammatory tweet

The Madras High Court on Friday, November 7, 2025, reserved the order on the plea of ​​Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) leader Aadhav Arjuna to quash the First Information Report (FIR) registered against him for his provocative September 29, 2025 tweet, which implied that a rebellion has been launched against the Tamil Nadu government by youth and Generation Z, as in Sri Lanka and Nepal.

Justice AD ​​Jagadish Chandira stayed his decision after hearing senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi on behalf of the petitioner and NR Elango, assisted by Additional Public Prosecutor E. Raj Thilak, on behalf of Chennai cyber crime police, which lodged the FIR based on a complaint filed by N. Shanmugham of Thiru Vi Ka Nagar in Chennai on September 30.

Mr. Singhvi said his client, a political personality, only wanted to criticize the State government for crushing dissent and unleashing police brutality against his political opponents. The lawyer added that this was exactly why he edited the tweet within the first 15 minutes, deleting references to Nepal and Sri Lanka, and then deleted the entire tweet within 30 minutes.

Mr. Elango, however, said the references to Nepal and Sri Lanka clearly showed the intention of the petitioner. Stating that the tweet prima facie appeared to be an attempt to disturb public peace in the state, he said quashing the FIR in such cases would send a wrong message to others that they could abuse their freedom of expression and freedom and still escape prosecution.